Taiwan is to ban the killing of animals at state-run animal shelters next year as scheduled, Council of Agriculture Minister Tsao Chi-hung (曹啟鴻) said yesterday.
Regardless of the difficulty, “the implementation of the no-kill policy will not be delayed,” Tsao said at a news conference after the Cabinet’s regular weekly meeting.
The Animal Protection Act (動物保護法) was amended in February last year to prohibit putting animals down at public shelters for stray animals. According to the revised act, killing animals that have been held at public shelters for 12 days or more would have to cease from Feb. 4.
However, it is doubtful whether the new policy can be implemented as scheduled, with many cities and counties saying they cannot achieve the goal.
Twelve city and county governments have warned that they would be unable to comply, Tsao said.
Nevetheless, those administrations will have the assistance of the central government to cope with any problems, he said.
According to a Council of Agriculture report, of the nation’s 22 municipalities and counties, only three — New Taipei City, Kaohsiung and Taitung County — have achieved the goal of no longer putting down animals at public shelters.
Seven regions, including Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Keelung and Lienchiang County, said they could achieve the goal of zero killings next year, but they would have difficulty continuing to do so in the following years, the report said.
Hsinchu County, Hsinchu City, Miaoli County, Changhua County, Nantou County, Yunlin County, Chiayi County, Chiayi City, Pingtung County, Hualien County, Penghu County and Kinmen County have said that it would be difficult for them to maintain their animal shelters without putting animals down.
The council said that challenges facing implementation of the new policy include demands from the public that stray dogs and cats be captured, while capacity at public shelters to house them is limited.
Other reasons include the low acceptance of adopting pets from shelters rather than purchasing them, while there are complaints that resources for animal protection are not distributed evenly among urban and rural areas.
In Chiayi County, about 4,000 stray dogs are captured each year, but public shelters in the region can only accommodate up to 150 animals, according to an Aug. 12 report in the Chinese-language United Daily News.
The Chiayi County Government has said that for it to be able to carry out the no-kill policy as scheduled, shelters would have no option but to stop taking in stray dogs and cats, according to the newspaper.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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